Door locking mechanism



2 Sheets-Sheet l R. M. NORWOOD ET AL DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM Dec. 27, 1955 Filed Dec. 14, 1954 INVENTORS RONALD MOSS NORW 9M ATT'YS 2z LyLE FEEDER/CK P sr.' Wyk |||1||||1hh .Sul [I l/ FFFCII ldll H C'/://////////////////.///////////////////// .mm m

Dec. 27, 1955 R. M. NoRwooD ETAL DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Shea?I 2 Filed Dec. 14, 1954 K s NLSPU W SR T VWM A man w/ MF wf? RMK L5 United States Patent O 2,728,119 DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM Ronald Moss Norwood and Lyle Frederick Pepino, London, Ontario, Canada, assignors to Richards-Wilcox Canadian Company, Limited, London, Ontario, Canada, a corporation Application December 14, 1954, Serial No. 475,173

9 Claims. (Cl. 2li-68) This invention relates to a door securing mechanism.

Diiculty has long been experienced with canopy type doors commonly used in aircraft hangers in that the door, when closed, is subject to buffeting and rattling when subjected to the force of the wind. These doors are of Very large area and consequently present a large surface to the wind and thus must withstand a considerable force. The nature of the use to which these doors are put requires that there must be no vertical supporting members along the length of the door and, therefore, the door must be self-supporting throughout its extent.

It has been contemplated in the past to provide brackets spaced across the door opening along the floor line to which the bottom edge of the doormight be secured when the door is in the closed position. This necessitates the presence of a Workman who, when the door is closed, goes from bracket to bracket and engages the securing means in order to hold the door securely against the floor. Attempts at providing automatic floor engaging means have been unsuccessful as such mechanisms were cumbersome and complicated and required constant adjustment to keep them in operating condition.

It is an object of the present invention to provide automatic means to securely engage the bottom edge of a door with the floor.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such automatic means which are simple in construction and operation.

It is another object of this invention to provide such means for engaging the lower edge of a door with the floor which will provide a positive grip when the door is closed and will automatically release as soon as the door is raised.

It is another object of this invention to provide sealing means along the lower edge of the door to provide a weathertight seal.

Briefly, the device includes a cylinder mounted vertically at the bottom edge of the door and having a slot lying obliquely in the wall of the cylinder. Slidably mounted within the cylinder is a rod having a pin extending from the side thereof through the slot in the cylinder. A spring is mounted within the cylinder and bears against the upper end of the rod urging it in a downward direction. At the the lower end of the rod is a plate welded thereto which, when the door is open, lies in a plane parallel to the plane of the door. Twopositioning stops are mounted on the oor spaced apart, a distance equal to the length of the plate. When the door is closed the rod strikes the floor between the stops and is urged upwardly into the cylinder against the action of the spring and the pin follows the path of the oblique slot and rotates the rod through 90. This rotates the plate secured to the end of the rod through 90 and causes its ends to bear against the adjacent faces of the stops mounted on the oor. Along the lower edge of the door is also mounted an apertured sealing strip.

The advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of one embodiment when read in conjunction with the appended drawings in which like reference numerals denote like parts throughout.

Figure l is a side elevation of the securing member with the door in the open posiiton;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the securing member with the door in the closed posiiton;

Figure 3 shows another embodiment of the invention;

Figure 4 is a section View .of the lower edge sealing means; and

Figure 5 is a side view in section of the same sealing means. y

Referring now to the drawings it will be seen that; the door shown generally at 10 consists of an outer wall 11 and an inner wall 12. A bottom member 13 is provided which joins the two walls 11 and 12. Mounted vertically between the inner and outer walls of the door is a cylindrical member 14 which has, cut in its wall, an oblique slot 15. The lower end of the slot is spaced angularly from the upper end by approximately of arc.

The slot 15 lies obliquely in the cylinder wall along part of its length and at point 32 changes its direction and extends vertically along the wall. The vertical portion 33 of the slot is provided to allow a certain amount of play in the apparatus that will be more fully described below.

The cylinder 14 is closed at its upper end by means of plate 16 which is provided with a downwardly extending centrally located lug 17. A rod 18 is slidably mounted within the cylinder 14 and is provided with a pin 19 which is rigidly secured to the wall of the rod 1S and which extends outwardly through the slot 15.` The sliding of rod 18 upwardly into cylinder 14 will cause, by virtue of the location of the pin in slot 15, the rotation of rod 18 through 90. A compression spring 20 lies within the cylinder 14 and bears at one end against the upper plate 16 of the cylinder and at the other end against the upper face 21 of the rod 18. The spring exerts a force which urges rod 18 downwardly.

Secured to the lower end ofyrod 18 is a flat plate 22 having vertical faces 23 and 24 at each end thereof. The plate 22 lies in a plane parallel to the plane of the door when the rod 18 is in the position shown in Fig. .1 but, when the rod is in the position shown in Fig. 2, and has rotated through 90, the plate 22 lies in a plane normal to the plane of the door.

Mounted on the floor, along a line directly beneath the edges of the door when the door is in the closed position are two stops 25 and 26 having vertical adjacent faces 27 and 28. These faces 27 and 28 are of a height suicient to engage the vertical faces 23 and 24 of the plate 22 but are not high enough to obstruct the passage of vehicles in and out of the building. Reference to Fig. 2 will show that when the door is in the closed position and the plate 22 lies in a plane normal to the plane of the door, the edges 23 and 24 of the plate 22 engage the faces 28 and 27 respectively of the stops 25 and 26 and securely hold the door against displacement by the force of the wind or other means.

It will now be seen that the closing of the door forces rod 18 into cylinder 15 and pin 19, following slot 15, causing 90 of rotation in rod 18. This rotation is caused by the oblique portion of slot 15. When the pin has passed into portion 33 of slot 15 no further rotation takes place but a certain amount of play is provided to compensate for irregularity or unevenness in the floor.

An alternative construction is shown in Fig. 3. Here, in place of the vertically extending stops 25 and 26, is provided a depression 29 having vertical sidewalls 30 and 31. The operation of the securing means is identical when the depression is used to the operation when the vertically extending lugs are employed. The rotation of the rod 18 and the plate 22 caused by the closing Patented Dec. 27, 1955.

d of the door engages the faces 23 and 24 of plate 22 with sidewalls 31 and 30 of the depression 29.

Along the lower edge of the door is provided an apertured sealing strip to ensure that the door makes a weather-tight seal with the oor and to compensate for any irregularity or unevenness in the oor. This sealing strip can be seen in Figures 4 and 5 and comprises a strip 34 which is secured along each edge to the lower edges of the door at 35 and 36 and extends downwardly in a loop from these edges. Referring now to Figure 5, it will be seen that spaced along the lower edge of the door are cylinders 37 which extend vertically upwardly from the lower edge and which contain compression springs 38. These springs 38 bear against collars 39 on rods 40 which are slidably mounted within the cylinders 37 and which extend downwardly therefrom. Secured to the lower end of rods 40 is a bar 41 which may conveniently be a piece of pipe. The bar 41 extends parallel to the lower edge of the door and lies within the loop formed by the strip 34. As seen in Figure 4, the bar 41, being urged downwardly by springs 38 and rods 40, extends the loop 34 to its fullest extent.

When the door is closed the bar 41 contacts the floor and is forced upwardly as the door moves down. The rods 40 slide upwardly into cylinders 37 against the action of springs 38. The springs 38 urge the bar 41 downwardly and thus keep it in close contact with the floor, assuring a weather-tight seal.

As seen in Figure 5, the bar 41 is broken at the points where the door securing means extend downwardly from their cylinders 14. This also holds good for the strip 34 which has apertures therein` to allow the members 18 and 22 to protrude through the strip and engage with the stops on the iioor.

From the above description it will be seen that a simple and eilicient securing means for canopy type doors hasv been provided which is automatic in operation and which will notl require the presence of an attendant and which will not require adjustment to keep it in satisfactory operating condition.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. In a device for securing the lower edge of a canopy door to a floor when in the closed position, a cylinder mounted on thev door extending upwardly and having an oblique slot therein, a rod slidable in the cylinder and extending downwardly therefrom, the rod having means tov engage said slot, a spring in the cylinder to urge the rod downwardly, a member extending outwardly from the rod at its lower end and means on the oor to engage the said member when the door is in the closed position.

2. In a devicefor securing the lower edge of a canopy door to. a floor when in the closed position, a substantially vertical cylinder mounted on the door having an oblique slot cut therein, a rodl slidable in said cylinder and extending downwardly therefrom, a pin extending radially from the rod and passing through the` slot, a spring in the, cylinder to urgeV the rod downwardly, a member extending outwardly from the rod at its lower end and` means on theoor to engage said member when the door is in the closed position.

3. In a device for securing the lower edge of a canopy door to a oor when in the closed position, a substantially vertical cylinder mounted on the door having an oblique slot cut therein, the lower end of the slot being spaced angularly from the upper end by approximately 90 of arc., a rod slidable in` said cylinder and' extending downwardly therefrom through an apertured member extending along the bottom of the door, a pin extending radially from said rod and passing through said slot, a spring in said cylinder to urge the rod downwardly, a member extending outwardly from the rod at its lower end, the member lying in a plane parallel to the plane of the door when the door is in the open position and in a plane at right angles to the door when the door is closed, and means on the floor to engage said member when the door is in the closed position.

4. In a device as claimed in claim 3 in which said slot extends along the longitudinal axis a distance at least equal to the length of rod that extends from the cylinder.

5. In a device as claimed in claim 1, in which the means on the floor include two spaced vertically extending stops spaced apart a distance at least equal to the length of the member extending outwardly from the end of said rod.

6. ln a device for securing the lower edge of a canopy door to a iloor when in the closed position, a substantially vertical cylinder mounted on the door having an oblique slot cut therein, the lower end of the slot being spaced angularly from the upper end by approximately of are, a rod slidable in the cylinder and extending downwardly therefrom through an apertured member along the bottom of the door, a pin extending radially from said rod and passing through the slot, the slot extending along the longitudinal axis a distance at least equal to the length of rod that extends from the cylinder, a member secured to and extending outwardly from the rod at its lower end, the member lying in a plane parallel to the plane of the door when the door is in the open position and in a plane at right angles to the door when the door is closed, two vertically extending stops spaced apart a distance at least equal to the length of the member secured at right angles to the end of said rod, the stops being secured to the floor along a line beneath the lower edge of the door when the door is in its closed position.

7. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which an apertured iiexible strip is resiliently urged downwardly from its position along the lower edge of the door.

8. A device as claimed in claim l in which an apertured strip is provided along the lower edge of the door comprising a strip of impregnated fabric secured by its edges to opposite edges of the bottom of the door and extending downwardly in a Ulshaped loop, a bar lying in the loop having attached thereto vertical rods, slidable in cylinders mounted on the door and compression springs in the cylinders bearing against collars on the rods to urge the rods and said bar downwardly.

9. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which an apertured strip lies along the bottom of the door and comprises a strip of impregnated fabric secured by its edges to opposite edges of the bottom of the door and extends downwardly in a U-shaped loop, a bar lying in the loop intermediate the securing means and having, vertically extending rods attached thereto, the rods extending into cylinders, compression springs in the cylinders and bearing against collars on said rods to urge said rods and said bar downwardly into engagement with the floor.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 1,030,820 France Mar. 18, 1953 

